


i won't say goodbye

by ElijahDarling



Series: Ten Week Countdown to Season Two [3]
Category: For the People (TV 2018)
Genre: 18 Miles Outside of Roanoke, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Episode: 18 Miles Outside of Roanoke, F/F, Older Woman/Younger Woman, Ten Week Countdown, why did this pop into my head upon rewatching this episode?, why is this a ship I'm into now?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 05:46:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17401157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElijahDarling/pseuds/ElijahDarling
Summary: "“Rhyming. Catchy.” Allison is new to the East route, but she’d heard of the Barish Well. She turns to check on her charges; a young man and his younger brother. When Mount Haven had become too hostile, she’d been called to ferry them away in the night."Allison guides people through a desert wasteland who have landed themselves in trouble. The Barish Well is on the way.





	i won't say goodbye

**Author's Note:**

> This is a questionable ship that I now captain.

**1.**

_ If you hold the well, you hold back hell. _

“Rhyming. Catchy.” Allison is new to the East route, but she’d heard of the Barish Well. She turns to check on her charges; a young man and his younger brother. When Mount Haven had become too hostile, she’d been called to ferry them away in the night. As a guardian, it’s her duty to find people in the vast wasteland and transplant them if the lack of resources in their area threatened to choke them out. Some of her fellow guardians had warned her away from the Barish Well, some had told her to seek it out.

Her brother had told her to do what was right for her charges, as she had always done.

**2.**

There is a sign. It does not say Barish Well. It promises and threatens at once.

But Keenan and his brother are tired and worn, and need mercy. Or some Grace.

Allison hopes to win them that.

**3.**

Diane Barish is a weathered woman. She looks at them and somehow through them. Allison feels a chill on the back of her neck despite the sweltering heat.

Allison pleads their case. Barish agrees to let Keenan and his brother in for only three days, and then they must leave. Allison must remain outside. That is the arrangement.

It kills Allison to let her charges out of her sight. (She worries too about three more days with little water, little food, little safety for her own reserves - but she’s endured worst hardship. She’ll endure more.)

**4.**

Every day at noon Barish brings her a cup of water, and a slice of bread, and sits by her side for no longer than an hour. The first day they are silent. The second day Allison tells her of Keenan, and his efforts to raise his brother in a world determined to kill them both. She speaks passionately, when she gestures to make a point she nearly spills a drop of water. Barish catches her hand and steadies her grip. She holds Allison’s hand until the silence generated by the action grows oppressive.

When she lets go she crooks a smile - mocking one of them. 

“I’ve watched over this well for seventeen years. I wish I could see more like you pass by it.”

**5.**

The third day, Allison lays a soft kiss on the palm that held hers when Barish offers her a hand to stand up. She looks at Barish through her eyelashes. Her lips drags on her skin when she politely thanks her for having them, but they need to depart now.

Barish heaves out a sigh - and calls for the boys to come out.

**6.**

Allison is alone. Keenan’s nervous chatter swiftly becoming a distant memory when it’s been only a week.

Memories become elastic under the too big sky when you walk in a too big world.

Instead, her mind keeps turning to a month ago - the chill on her neck, the fingers on her wrist, her lower lip pressed into a tanned hand with tenderhearted soft palms still tasting the most delicious water she’d ever had.

**7.**

“Is it hard to hold back hell on your own?”

Diane laughs. “Not today.”


End file.
